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4G in one tiny area?

Hi,
So on my way too and from work I noticed that I picked up a 4G signal but only for 2-3 minutes. Traveling at about 70MPH I figured it lasted for 3-4 miles. The area is between two cities in south eastern VA (Williamsburg and Newport News). It's not even close to any 4G areas listed on Verizon's 4G map. I was wondering if anyone could possibly explain or even hypothesize why or how they would be do this.
Also, it isn't just a fluke. I connect every time I pass through the area and did speed tests before and after.
3G = 1mbps down, 0.5 up
4G = 7-9 mbps down, 3-5 up
Anyone have any ideas?

xnatex21 said:
Hi,
So on my way too and from work I noticed that I picked up a 4G signal but only for 2-3 minutes. Traveling at about 70MPH I figured it lasted for 3-4 miles. The area is between two cities in south eastern VA (Williamsburg and Newport News). It's not even close to any 4G areas listed on Verizon's 4G map. I was wondering if anyone could possibly explain or even hypothesize why or how they would be do this.
Also, it isn't just a fluke. I connect every time I pass through the area and did speed tests before and after.
3G = 1mbps down, 0.5 up
4G = 7-9 mbps down, 3-5 up
Anyone have any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most likely a test tower. That's a good sign - if they're testing 4G in the area, you may be getting it soon. "Soon" could be a year, though.

Horrible service where I moved...

Recently I had to move to an area where if I drive two minutes in any direction I have no signal/service. The coverage map says tmobile doesn't even have towers around here and it borrows at&t towers and 2g data. Unfortunately the spots they chose to cover are extremely spotty. Now I realize there is more than likely absolutely nothing that can be done without switching carriers but for specific reasons I'm not interested in doing that. I figured I would at least ask if there DOES happen to be something that can be done though... no harm in that. A lot of people on here know a lot more than me about this sort of thing. Someone please (at least try) to give me good news!
Probably not though. Oh well.
Sent from my LG-P999

They make personal cell towers for your house (that's definitely not the right word for them). But unfortunately it wouldn't do anything for the areas around it.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium

Ehh I got wifi calling plus the signal at my apt is fine. I will eventually just unlock it and use a different carrier. Probably the only thing that can be done.
Sent from my LG-P999

e4e5nf3nc6 said:
Ehh I got wifi calling plus the signal at my apt is fine. I will eventually just unlock it and use a different carrier. Probably the only thing that can be done.
Sent from my LG-P999
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Just and FYI, the only other service that it can be used with is ATT witch as you stated in OP will only be 2g.

Could be worse.
You could have 100% perfect signal *everywhere* except home. As in, I drive 1 minute in either direction and my signal becomes perfect 4G...
I'm triangulated between 3 towers at close distance... apparently at the point where they all 3 are equidistant a phone will have difficulty locking onto any one specific tower due to interference from the others... same reason AT&T realized selling cell signal repeaters could actually make signal worse for some people...
I even found a New Year's surprise from T-Mobile, ran a speedtest right after midnight and got the fastest speed I've ever gotten (anywhere) on 4G less than a mile from my home. Got all excited, got home, and had horrible signal as usual ...

lotherius said:
Could be worse.
You could have 100% perfect signal *everywhere* except home. As in, I drive 1 minute in either direction and my signal becomes perfect 4G...
I'm triangulated between 3 towers at close distance... apparently at the point where they all 3 are equidistant a phone will have difficulty locking onto any one specific tower due to interference from the others... same reason AT&T realized selling cell signal repeaters could actually make signal worse for some people...
I even found a New Year's surprise from T-Mobile, ran a speedtest right after midnight and got the fastest speed I've ever gotten (anywhere) on 4G less than a mile from my home. Got all excited, got home, and had horrible signal as usual ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the SAME EXACT issue as you. Horrible speed at home, but as soon as I step outside, perfect 4G. I easily pick up 6mb in my area. Heck, I usually pick up 10mb. ;D

I just need to move to a new area. It is Verizon-dominant around here and everything else just basically doesn't work. It really is frustrating though paying for the phone service and not having jack when I am out and about. I have no service almost anywhere I have to go on a daily basis except for my apartment. I don't have a home phone so that's useful but part of the reason of having a cell phone (especially the one I bought) is being able to send a text or use the internet WHEREVER I am!!!

Exploring a cell site?

My brother and I decided to go check out a pretty huge Verizon 4G cell site today for fun. We got to see the tons of equipment that powers Verizon's crazy fast 4G LTE network in person. When I was standing under one of the towers, I decided to run a couple speed tests. Thinking I'd be able to pull 40-50 Mbps down easily, especially with a signal strength of -45 dBm, I shocked to see I was only able to pull down 3.5 Mbps over LTE. Just half a mile away I could get anywhere from a 25-30 Mbps down average so why would I get such a terrible connection speed being so close to the tower. Was I just too close and getting too much RF interference? If anyone knows the technical stuff behind cell towers, let me know, I'd love to find out more about this!

It's because you're standing right under the tower. The tower projects the signal outwards rather than down. This means there are places around the tower you wont get good signal. This is the reason you got good signal half mile away. You were in line with the signal.

They go outwards and then go down as they go along, thats why living right next to a cell tower will give you bad signal, but being a few miles away will give you brilliant signal.

MrLadoodle said:
They go outwards and then go down as they go along, thats why living right next to a cell tower will give you bad signal, but being a few miles away will give you brilliant signal.
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Don't forget give you radiation also lol

Think about it, it's like standing in the middle of a hurricane. Minimal wind speed in the eye. Maximum wind speed a few miles in any direction from the eye.

MrLadoodle said:
They go outwards and then go down as they go along, thats why living right next to a cell tower will give you bad signal, but being a few miles away will give you brilliant signal.
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Click to collapse
A few miles? In rural areas, maybe - with larger towers with a greater range but definitely not in urban areas.

ewd54 said:
It's because you're standing right under the tower. The tower projects the signal outwards rather than down. This means there are places around the tower you wont get good signal. This is the reason you got good signal half mile away. You were in line with the signal.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for pointing that out, that probably explains the terrible data speeds I was pulling down. I don't think anyone could beat the -45 dBm signal strength I managed to get though.
htc fan89 said:
Don't forget give you radiation also lol
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Well there were warning signs posted all over the tower stating that the RF exposure exceeded FCC limits and to stay within 7 feet, but I thought living close to a cell site was relatively safe?

Should of taken a picture of the sign.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium

no matter how the signal strength is, the hardware and software protocols are made for typical LTE speeds, you will not get those speeds. it may be error.

KRAZYADROIDMASTER said:
Should of taken a picture of the sign.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did take a couple pictures of the tower and a sign with all the tower info. Didn't have time to hang around there much more before we got chased out.

No one lives 7 feet from those towers I'm sure...Maybe a hobo

antispiral said:
No one lives 7 feet from those towers I'm sure...Maybe a hobo
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Click to collapse
A hobo lives somewhere haha lol
AOKP 4 LYF

Data dropping

My phone has dropped data randomly two times this morning. I could only get it back by doing a switch to airplane mode. Anyone else with this problem? Is this a phone issue that I need to get a new one?
Sent from my HTC One X

Mine has dropped several times. when coming to and from work. It seems to always happen when it connects to wifi. when i leave work and its wifi, i lose all signal entirely.

I don't use wifi though that's the thing. I called ATT and they said it may need a new simcard......which this was. So I swung by and got one and the lady at the store said that my phone may be going bad! LOL wow I love how they train their people.

YES. Most definitely, this is the same problem I'm experiencing. I had another thread posted about how the 4G icon was lit but there was no signal. The icon now seems to be a little more accurate...But still.
At home I switch on WiFi so I don't run up my data but if I look at the settings for mobile network the status underneath in gray text keeps showing that it connects and disconnects. Endlessly. The phone isn't moving. My wife has signal on her iPad and iPhone (I know those are 3G).
I have to turn on airplane mode and then off...Then mobile network on and it seems to help a little. However it's still super spotty.
This is pretty much only indoors but I don't know. I'm going to go around town and try it out. On their coverage map I'm in a big zone of LTE coverage. Outside I have seen 30Mbps on LTE using speedtest.net app. So I don't know. I thought it was very odd given the houses here in CA don't exactly have super thick insulation and every other cell phone (Sprint, my wife's on AT&T, etc.) seem to be AOK. It's just this new One X that just can't stay connected to the 4G.
Going under settings > about > network ...
I see my signal strength....some readings are...
-109 dBm 4 asu
-101 dBm 6 asu
-107 dBm 2 asu
I have no idea what values I should be seeing - what is considered good?
Mobile network type says HSPA. Service state says in service. Icon up top is 4G with one bar. If I turn off WiFi I could not load a web page or anything. That's what annoys me. I usually see like 2 bars and that's fine...But if I see the damn bars and the 4G icon....I sure as hell expect the data to work, even if a little slower.
It's just SUPER flaky. Again outside seems to help but to be honest I haven't sat and watched it. For all I know it could be connecting and disconnecting over and over outside as well but just have a stronger connection when it is actually "on."
I'm annoyed and speechless. I'm not in the boonies. I've never experienced anything like this before. I'm actually at my desk in front of a window. Uh...WTF?

Just picked up lunch and watched the data while on the trip.
This phone is unusable. It's gotta go back. Well, I guess it's welcome back Sprint. Sooooo disappointed.
All I got was HSPA. The only time I get LTE and those fast 30Mbps down is at night time. AT&T is such a joke and their network is NOT ready for this phone.
I'm in Palo Alto, CA. It's not the middle of no where. This is embarrassing. Either that or somehow I have a defective phone or SIM card or something I have no clue here...It's really really bad and I'm obviously not the only one.
3 days and it's been horrible, the only reason why I didn't notice sooner is because I've been using the phone on WiFi most the time.

tom_m said:
Just picked up lunch and watched the data while on the trip.
This phone is unusable. It's gotta go back. Well, I guess it's welcome back Sprint. Sooooo disappointed.
All I got was HSPA. The only time I get LTE and those fast 30Mbps down is at night time. AT&T is such a joke and their network is NOT ready for this phone.
I'm in Palo Alto, CA. It's not the middle of no where. This is embarrassing. Either that or somehow I have a defective phone or SIM card or something I have no clue here...It's really really bad and I'm obviously not the only one.
3 days and it's been horrible, the only reason why I didn't notice sooner is because I've been using the phone on WiFi most the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how fast is the HSPA you're getting?

1-3.56Mbps down and 0.04-1.03Mbps up.
Out on the street downtown.
Best I've ever had was at night on LTE 30Mbps down and like 17Mbps up.
All to the same test server. Trying servers several states away it varied, sometimes I'd even see 20Mbps down to a far away server.
Again this is all WHEN I'm actually connected to the data network.
The thing just can't hold a connection. Constantly dropped.
edit-- ok so right now same time of day, servers, etc. Sprint's 3G is a little slower, but at least I'm not getting dropped.
and on a side note, i got a REALLY helpful lvl1 tech support lady on the phone. much better experience than i thought. there was an issue in the area before. but basically i'm going to give it another shot. if no good tomorrow, swap for a new phone. they'll call me back friday and we'll see... crossing my fingers.

Any update on this? I've got a new One X and work night shifts twice a week. I've notived tonight that the data drops when the phone is idle and obviously nothing pushes.
There's got to be a way of turning this off. I can see why HTC would call it a feature, but there has to be a flag or a switch somewhere....

[VERIZON] Anyone noticing worse data connection and reception?

Coming from a Bionic. On that phone, I kept LTE in every room of my apartment. On this Galaxy S3, I only get LTE in one room and the others throw me onto 3G. Just seeing if anyone else was experiencing something similar, hopefully enough people are affected to warrant a fix in a future update.

Have you tried network booster from market?
White Hot! GS3.

LuRock said:
Have you tried network booster from market?
White Hot! GS3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never heard of it. Comments say all it does is quickly turn your phone to airplane mode then back to normal. No, I'm not downloading an app for that

I will agree with you the signal on this is not as good as my 4s on att

Mine is pulling the same dbm's as maxx was.

I'm coming from the Razr Maxx...and I do notice a slight decrease in radio strength...nothing to complain too much about though...my main concern is the 4G LTE speeds...with my MAXX while being very close to an LTE tower I was getting 30+ Mbps download and 20+ Mbps upload... when standing in the same spot with my GS3 I only get about 6 Mbps download and 7 Mbps upload....I did test all around the city and I never break those numbers....My Maxx used to smoke it was so fast... If anyone else is experiencing this then hopefully a future update will fix it...or maybe my phone is buggy?? or the SIM card is bad?? I have no clue...I'm coming from Sprint from before my MAXX so anything over 150 Kbps is fast for me LoL...but still I know the Verizon network is fast and my GS3 is Slowing me down when it shouldn't....

my signal is the same on this as my bionic dbm is the same

monkey28rb said:
I will agree with you the signal on this is not as good as my 4s on att
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Click to collapse
Worthless comparison. You're comparing a different phone on a different network. There is so much wrong with this I can barely even touch it.
Suffice it to say that, at the bare minimum, it's quite possible that you're simply closer to the AT&T tower than to the Verizon tower.

Yes it's not as good as my rezound. I have very weak signal in my office and the rezound would always get 1 bar and the gs3 gets no signal at all

I don't see any difference in signal strength from my previous phone (DX).

monkey28rb said:
I will agree with you the signal on this is not as good as my 4s on att
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Click to collapse
Att or verizon? 3g or 4g/lte? Android or iOS? Uhhh maybe you have the wrong forum or you are just trying to be funny...... yeah let's go with it being a joke. Lol that was a good one .

I think verizon 4g is just a bit buggy still. I'm routinely in cherry hill new jersey and usually have full 4g here. The past 2 days 4g is no where to be found... Here's to hoping verizon gets this figured out.
-Hai guise I haz problems on the pre-alpha release and I don't know why.

I've had a lot of fluctuation in my mbps. Signal strenght is usually decent (3 bars on average) My fastest mbps was 25 down 23 up, but on average I get about 6-10/sec. I have had the phone for a week as of today, and I've only switched to 3g twice for about 30 seconds. I live in the chicago area where I believe there is a lot of coverage.

Still hoping Samsung can get a proper radio out both my thunderbolt and rezound get great signal and speed both at work and home twhere as the S3 get horrible speed and signal :'(
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

95talondsm said:
I've had a lot of fluctuation in my mbps. Signal strenght is usually decent (3 bars on average) My fastest mbps was 25 down 23 up, but on average I get about 6-10/sec. I have had the phone for a week as of today, and I've only switched to 3g twice for about 30 seconds. I live in the chicago area where I believe there is a lot of coverage.
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Click to collapse
I get a huge fluctuation is speed too although I am on 3g and have not seen 4g yet.
Two speed tests done back to back, one can be as low as 30 kbps down with 500 kbps, the other 1500kbs down with 100 kbps up.
My phone is being returned as "DOA." It's not my network as I made the 3 hour drive to the city to compare it there. As compared to phones running the same apps, in the store, side by side mine was noticeably slower and far less consistent.
My battery life is miserable as well so if you have these issues- sounds like the device is faulty.
Let me stress- I have not received a replacement of my S3 yet so I am unaware if this issue is across the board, or, isolated to particular phones.

I have better speed and a good signal strength. coming g from the bionic so ...yeah

SightSeeker said:
Yes it's not as good as my rezound. I have very weak signal in my office and the rezound would always get 1 bar and the gs3 gets no signal at all
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Same here, my three Rezound's have a much better radio than any GSlll.
I knew this going in however, Samsung has always had [email protected] radios (my Droid Charge was the same way) & the radios in the Rezound are some of the best out there.

Just ran a speedtest in my office... 186kbps / 21 kbps on 3g... WTF?

Kreeker said:
Just ran a speedtest in my office... 186kbps / 21 kbps on 3g... WTF?
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Click to collapse
Exact same symptoms mine displays.
Lame.
Keep trying it and see if it fluctuates.

Hmm I've been bouncing back and forth between no data, 1x, and 3g all day in an area I always have strong 4g. Weird.
EDIT: and full 4g just magically reappeared here. -83 dbm , 57asu